I was referring to publicly shared folders w/ non-Google users. If you don't have a Google/Drive account and someone shares a link-accessible folder, it can be

I was referring to publicly shared folders w/ non-Google users. If you don't have a Google/Drive account and someone shares a link-accessible folder, it can be viewed and items downloaded piecemeal, but there is no option to download the entire folder. Link-accessible Box.net folders don't have this constraint. You can share a folder link w/ someone who doesn't have an account and they can download the entire folder w/o creating one. Google only let's you view the contents and download one-at-a-time. Your work-around is good to know, but you'd have to be sharing with another Drive user for it to work.